1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to apparatus for performing bodily exercises, and more particularly to an exercise machine for performing a wide range of full body motions against cabled weight resistance by providing user-selectable arrangements of pulleys. A pulley carriage carries one or more carriage pulleys and is slidable on a vertical stanchion. Each pulley arrangement comprises the combination of a user-selectable, vertical height for the carriage pulley(s) together with user-selectable locations on the frame of the apparatus for attachment of a pair of hand pulleys. Adjustment of the vertical height of the carriage pulley(s) permits the user to increase or decrease the amount of slack in the cables attached to the hand pulleys to an amount that is optimal for each kind of exercise.
2. Background Art
Various machines for strength training are well known in the art. These include machines that utilize a weight stack and pulley system mounted to a frame to provide resistance to an exercise movement. Such machines provide either a single, centrally-disposed weight stack or a pair of laterally spaced-apart weight stacks. As is the case with the instant invention, one or more of the pulleys may be fixed to the frame, one or more of the pulleys may be attachable to the frame at any of multiple locations on the frame, and one or more of the pulleys may move in response to movements of a cable threaded through the pulley(s). U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,683, issued to Tolles, for instance, disclosed an exercise machine that incorporated a dual adjustable pulley system that included first and second movable pulleys. Unlike the movable, carriage pulleys of the instant invention that are height adjustable on a vertical stanchion by the user for optimal cable slack, however, the movable pulleys disclosed by Tolles were disposed above, and attached to, a weight stack, not slidably mounted to a vertical stanchion, and not height-adjustable by the user for optimal cable slack.
In order to permit a wide variety of pulley arrangements, the instant invention provides a pair of laterally spaced-apart swivel pulleys, mounted to an upper portion of the frame, through which left and right cables pass; the left and right cables thence pass around left and right hand pulleys, and from there connect to left and right hand grips, respectively. The swivel pulleys permit the cables to be angled variously outward from an upper, rear portion of the frame, depending on the user-selected positions for attaching the hand pulleys to the frame. Swivel pulleys have been incorporated into exercise machines prior to the instant invention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,453, issued to Sollenberger, for instance, disclosed an exercise machine having a pair of laterally spaced-apart swivel pulleys from which portions of cables extend angularly outward with respect to the machine frame. Unlike the instant invention, however, Sollenberger's cables did not extend to left and right hand pulleys, but instead extended directly to a pair of hand grips.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,600 B, issued to Ullman, disclosed an accessory device that was attachable to a conventional exercise machine and provided a user an infinite number of angles for use in exercising muscles. Ullman's device included top and bottom braces attachable to top and bottom portions of an exercise machine, respectively, and left and right, semicircular beams pivotally attachable to the top and bottom braces and lockable in place by pairs of nuts and bolts. Inside edges of each of the beams comprised a slide rail with a plurality of spaced-apart holes. Left and right track pulleys were selectably attachable to the left and right beams at any of the holes therein. Left and right weight stacks and left and right cables were provided. Each cable extended from a weight stack up and over a guide pulley attached to the top brace, thence around a track pulley and thence downward to a hand grip. By rotating the beams about a vertical axis, and by selecting the positions of the track pulleys along the beams, a wide variety of exercises could be performed by pulling on the handgrips. Unlike the instant invention, however, Ullman's device included no carriage pulleys slidable on a vertical stanchion and no means for a user to adjust the slack in the left and right cables. Moreover, unlike Ullman's device, the instant invention provides indicia labels for each selectable position of the carriage pulleys on the vertical stanchion, and for each selectable position of the hand pulleys on the frame. Accordingly, once optimal positions have been determined by the user for each kind of exercise, those indicia can be used to quickly and easily reconfigure the pulley arrangements for a particular exercise to those indicia-labeled locations on the stanchion and on the frame that have been found to be optimal for that exercise—including the optimal amount of cable slack.